I just watched the movie (I live in Spain and it premiered here today) and it's one of the best superhero movies I've seen. I loved the S.H.I.E.L.D bits, the hints at War Machine, the hints at the Mandarin (with that 10 rings society), Jarvis being the computer, the subtle but great romance between Tony and Pepper (I hope they turn her into Hera somehow in the sequel, her interaction with Tony is great), the CGI was perfect (well, almost perfect, but overall it's amazing) and yes, Nick Fury was after the credits talking to Tony about the existance of more super heroes and about something called The Initiative: Avengers (that's what he said in spanish)

__________________Before SHH, your miserable, insignificant little life was laughable. Now that you've found SHH, have you noticed you've become more popular? Suddenly EVERYONE wants to hang out with you.

Cool to read the reviews, seems half the comic fans are gushing saying it's the best Superhero film ever, and the other half are saying it's a damn good Superhero film... sounds good.

I'm going tmr early afternoon, will post my review there after.

Yeah this film is probably the only one to get it right. It stays true to the origin, yet makes it contemporary. The only bad thing I can say is that you're hungering for more, which isn't really a bad thing if you think about it.

__________________"I'm going to show you something beautiful. Everyone screaming, for mercy. You want to protect the world, but you don't want it to change. You're all puppets tangled in strings.......strings....... but now I'm free. There are no strings on me."

No, all kidding aside, the movie is downright awesome!... I didn't know jack-**** about Iron Man before the movie, and it was a blast! I have no idea what you Iron Man fans are looking to see, but for me, the movie was a sure winner!

The story and the way it's all edited together is very solid! I recall some review on rottentomatoes saying that the editing was a bit off. Let me tell you all, it's not! It's just as clever screwed together as Batman Begins! The pacing is near perfect, the action is amazing ones it kicks in to gear! There's not too much of it for it to become boring, and it leaves you wanting more...A LOT MORE! There's plenty of action, but it's not overdone like in a surden movie called Transformers! It's all very balanced. But there really is much more to this movie than the action. The characters in this movie works, all of them! Downey Junior is great as Tony Stark! Bridges is a mean sadistic son of a *****, not a lame Dr. Doom villain or something... Towards the end everything gets real intense!

The humor/comedy in this movie is great! At one time I thought there was just the tiniest bit too much of it, but this is truely nothing. It's a fun movie, but not in the lame Fantastic Four style kind of way. It's very much a serious movie (like X2 was). The final half when things gets hot and Stark gets pissed off by things I wont tell here, you really feel the intensity rise! It's truely badass!!!

From 0-10, I give this movie a strong 8.5! YES, it's that good! I was blown away! Iron Man fans fear not, rest asured you can be very proud of this movie, and I prey to God that a sequel will follow!

just came back. it's a great movie, and the special effects are just ... amazing

D

Awesome. How about a review?

__________________"I know I'm asking a lot, but the price of freedom is high, it always has been, and it's a price I'm willing to pay. And if I'm the only one, then so be it. But I'm willing to bet I'm not." - Captain America

Now I didn't expect this movie to be this good at all. I thought it would be Hellboy at its best (fun and exciting to watch, but is not deep enough to really stir your insides), and Ghost Rider at its worst (I got that vibe from the teaser trailer). But it turns out this movie can actually duke it out with the best of the best like Spider-Man 2, X2, Superman: The Movie, and Batman Begins. I'm not saying this movie is actually better than those great films (Iron Man is less refined and polished in terms of its narrative style than those films), but I wouldn't bE angered or surprised if someone tells me it's their fave comic book movie yet. I need the DVD now!!

POSITIVES:
1. Cast
A. Robert Downey Jr.- AMAZING performance. He carried the crazy dialogue well and better than most actors could have. But it's given that Downey could pull off the crazy and funny aspect of the character, but what of the serious scenes? He does it even better. He gets so intense sometimes it gets scary. His transformation from useless playboy to superhero is worth double the ticket price.
B. Terrence Howard- He doesn't much have substance in this movie, but his character is memorable. He's a very likeable ordinary guy, and the audience identifies with him, his reactions and actions toward Stark would be ours too if we were in his position. The "Next time" scene literally sent giggles of geekiness down the audience's throats, including mine.
C. Gwyneth Paltrow- Now I've heard great things about her performance before entering the theatre so I had high expectations for her. Great chemistry with Downey: true. Best superhero romance ever: NO. She's not bad, but not THAT good either.
D. The extras- The robot was funny, memorable, and lovable. The ten-ring terror group should have been the main villain. Not Obadiah Stane.

2. THE ACTION/ EFFECTS- the action scenes were very few. But boy, were they great. That attack on terrorists could have gone longer, but Iron Man is relentless and intimidating in his action scenes. I've never seen any superhero move as cool as Iron Man in this movie. The Mark III suit looked amazing from any angle, and Downey's first suit-up is the best suit-up ever. The CGI was very good, it is up to the standard set by Transformers.

3. DIRECTION- In Jon Favreau I now Trust. He knows how to treat his characters, he doesn't lose focus of the story, he doesn't pull punches, he has moral and social messages effectively addressed without being preachy, and he knows where to put and how to execute the action scenes. His vision for this new franchise is as brilliant as Raimi's and Nolan's vision for their respective characters. And the fact that his first movie with Iron Man is more mature and sophisticated than Raimi's first Spidey, I have very high hopes for the sequel.

NEGATIVES:
1. The Music- aside from the classic rock tracks from AC/DC and Black Sabbath, the music lacked the energy, uniqueness and voice that the movie should have had.

2. The climax- Iron Monger vs. Iron Man. It lacked the epicness and grandness needed to pull off a memorable climax. There's a hollow and rushed feeling to it. The story didn't flow naturally towards the climax. It really would have been better if the Afghan terrorists were involved in the final fight.

3.. Jeffrey Bridges- A very different role for him here. Although Bridges' performance was good, I thought his transformation from Stark supporter to Stark enemy is brilliant, I really don't think his character was good enough to be a main villain. I thought he would have worked perfectly as a supporting villain to the Afghanist terrorists. Like scarecrow to the league of Shadows. He provided little tension to the final fight with Stark, unlike Iron Man's fight with the terrorists which provided real tension due to the village people they were abusing.

All in all, a very good movie. Has the action, humor, and character development needed to make a successful superhero movie. Even if the main villain and final fight disappoints, the character of Tony Stark alone makes the movie really good. Jon Favreau has crafted a mature, sophisticated, and socially relevant movie, with a main character that will be remembered for a long long time.

My top 4 are those as well and I'm sure once I see Iron Man our lists will match exactly.

Hehe. We have the same taste when it comes to our superhero flicks. I'm telling you, you will feel the same geeky things you felt when you first watched those other great superhero films. There's nothing better than a good superhero movie!

Well the way you called it the "10 ring terror group" it sounded like you didn't know who is behind the rings. My mistake.

Hehe understood. It would have been great to see the Mandarin in this first movie, Obadiah didn't really cut it for me as the main baddie. But I guess Favreau still didn't know how to portray the character of Mandarin yet. His movie is very realistic. But not realistic enough to make the character of Mandarin appearing in the sequel impossible.

It was good, 8/10. It wasnt the best C.B. film ever, but it was far away from being the worst.

Downsides: Rhodes was kinda boring, he was just there and he really didnt do anything.
The final fight could have been longer, but it was still good.
A little too much humor, kinda overdone IMHO.
The music.

Upsides: the flying scenes were awesome, great geek moments there.
RDJ's acting was top notch.
CGI was great.
The rest of the actors gave great performances as well, especially jeff bridges.

All in all i'd see it again in the theater, and thats how I judge a film.

I just got back from the theater and wow... Just... well, to make it short. This was one of the most entertaining Marvel Movies I ever had the pleasure to watch. It was just great from beginning to end. Not one moment that felt like a drag. At first I thought there'd be way too much humor, but I thought it worked out great in the end.

One of the things that I loved the most, was that you got a real sense of the scope of Tony Stark's unparalleled genius. Something that the Fantastic Four didn't really manage to convey with Reed Richards. When I was watching Iron Man, I was thinking "Man, what a brainbeast." Even his computers are more advanced than anything we've seen in Richard's Lab. Compared to Stark's equipment, Richard's computers are like old commodore systems. And the technology, simply out of this world.

I just can't decide whether to give it a 9 or 10 out of 10. It definitely is in the 9 region, but 10 means it was just perfect. Ah, screw it, it gets a 10/10 from me. Fun, enjoyable, didn't find anything to complain about. Looking forward to Iron Man II.